---

name: gpui description: Build desktop apps with GPUI, the GPU-accelerated UI framework from Zed. Covers Entity state, Render trait, div() Tailwind API, actions/keybindings, gpui-component widgets, theming. Use when building Rust desktop applications with GPUI or gpui-component.

GPUI Development

GPUI is a hybrid immediate/retained mode, GPU-accelerated UI framework for Rust from Zed.

Quick Reference

| Topic | When to Use | Reference | |-------|-------------|-----------| | Fundamentals | Starting new projects, understanding architecture | fundamentals.md | | State Management | Entity<T>, notify(), emit(), subscribe() | state-management.md | | Rendering | div() API, layout, conditional rendering | rendering.md | | Actions | Keyboard shortcuts, key bindings | actions.md | | Components | gpui-component widgets (Button, Input, Table) | components.md | | Theming | Colors, cx.theme(), Root view | theming.md | | Anti-patterns | Common mistakes to avoid | anti-patterns.md |

Critical Setup (MUST DO)

use gpui::{Application, App};
use gpui_component::Root;

fn main() {
    Application::new().run(|cx: &mut App| {
        gpui_component::init(cx);  // REQUIRED when using gpui-component
        
        cx.open_window(opts, |window, cx| {
            let view = cx.new(|cx| MyView::new(window, cx));
            cx.new(|cx| Root::new(view, window, cx))  // REQUIRED for theming
        });
    });
}

Key Mental Model (React vs GPUI)

| React | GPUI | Key Difference | |-------|------|----------------| | useState | Struct fields + cx.notify() | State in struct, manual re-render trigger | | Component | View (impl Render) | Views are Entities that render | | Virtual DOM | GPU rendering | No diffing - rebuild elements each frame | | Props drilling | Entity<T> handles | Pass entity handles, not callbacks |

Instructions

REQUIRED: Before implementing GPUI code, load the relevant reference file(s) using the Read tool.

1. Identify the task - What are you building?
2. Load relevant references - Read the appropriate .md file(s) FIRST
3. Follow patterns exactly - Use code patterns from references
4. Check anti-patterns - Read anti-patterns.md before writing code

Reference Selection Guide

• New project setup → Read fundamentals.md FIRST
• Managing state, events → Read state-management.md FIRST
• Building UI layouts → Read rendering.md FIRST
• Adding keyboard shortcuts → Read actions.md FIRST
• Using Button, Input, Select, Table → Read components.md FIRST
• Styling, colors, themes → Read theming.md FIRST
• Debugging issues → Read anti-patterns.md FIRST

Cargo.toml

[dependencies]
gpui = "0.2.2"
gpui-component = "0.6.0-preview0"

Common Patterns

State Update Pattern

impl MyView {
    fn update_something(&mut self, cx: &mut Context<Self>) {
        self.value = new_value;
        cx.notify();  // ALWAYS call after state changes
    }
}

Button Click Pattern

Button::new("btn-id")
    .label("Click Me")
    .on_click(|_, _, cx| {
        // handle click
    })

Stateful Component Pattern

struct MyView {
    input: Entity<InputState>,  // Store entity in struct
}

impl MyView {
    fn new(window: &Window, cx: &mut Context<Self>) -> Self {
        Self {
            input: cx.new(|cx| InputState::new(window, cx)),  // Create once
        }
    }
}